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Summary:
In mid-June 2009, Russia's Sarychev Peak volcano erupted, hurling
an enormous plume of ash and sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere.
This has produced some unusually colorful sunrises and sunsets around
the northern hemisphere. Purple is one of the telltale colors of
a volcanic sunset. Fine volcanic aerosols in the stratosphere scatter
blue light which, when mixed with ordinary sunset red, produces
a violet hue. Other signs to look for include a bright yellow "twilight
arch" and long crepuscular rays and shadows. |
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Photographer,
Location |
Images |
Comments |
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Brian
Whittaker,
Airborne at 35,000 from Vancouver, BC, Canada to east Baffin
Island, Nunavut, Canada.
Jun. 22, 2009 |
#1,
#2,
#3,
#4,
more |
I
was amazed by the most spectacular sunset that I have ever
witnessed! While over the Canadian Arctic at 36,000 feet
in the midnight sun, the giant volcanic cloud from eastern
Russia’s Sarychev Peak caused an amazing phenomena. While
transforming the entire foreground below to a strong copper
colored Martian landscape, it completely obscured the bright
solar rays leaving a deep red disc above. Further away in
the distance, between a break in the shadowed volcanic cloud,
the thin blue daytime appearance of this cloud can be seen.
On this day, this cloud stretched over 4000 kilometers (Yes!
Over four thousand km) but it was the sunset affect which
became breathtaking! I am sorry for the delay in publishing
because I originally thought it was BC’s forest fires before
I spotted the SpaceWeather.com story. |
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Jan Curtis,
Gresham, OR - just east of Portland
Jun. 27, 2009 |
#1,
#2, #3,
#4, more |
On 27 June from Gresham, Oregon, about 25 minutes after sunset, ash filled northwest skies peaked in color and detail. Saw several sets of wave-like clouds. All day, bight blue skies prevailed, so it was a surprise to see this sunset. Not as pronounced on the 26th.
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Jenaya
Swenson,
Svensen, Oregon
Jun. 28, 2009 |
#1,
#2, more |
For
the past two weeks, I've kept my eyes to the skies on the
search for NLCs. I haven't seen any NLCs yet, but I have
witnessed some of the most beautiful sunsets and sunrises
I have ever seen. I had wondered if these are so-called
'volcanic sunsets' due to the recent eruption of Sarychev
Peak? Last night(June 28th)the western sky just exploded
with color. The same happened this morning in the eastern
sky...absolutely breathtaking, Nature at her best! The first
image is from the 28th, the second is from this morning.
Photo
details: Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSI, P-mode. |
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Bill
Rohde,
a few miles north of Bend, Oregon
Jun. 26, 2009 |
#1,
#2 |
After
a very clear day, these clouds appeared for a while well
after sunset just west of Bend Oregon June 26th. They had
a very nice wave pattern to them. I didn't know what they
were except they seemed odd. On Spaceweather today I realized
I had seen the volcanic clouds from the Russian volcano.
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Paul Hadfield,
Latham, Illinois
Jun. 28, 2009 |
#1,
#2, #3,
more |
Much to my surprise,
we were greeted with an amazing ashfall sunset across Central
IL c/o Sarychev on Sunday. I believe that our current NW
flow as well as a cutoff low over Lake Superior is aiding
in drawing debris from the higher latitudes down into our
region.
Photo
details: Canon Rebel XTi, ISO 100, F13, A/V mode.
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Rick
Schrantz,
Nicholasville, Kentucky
Jun. 29, 2009 |
#1,
#2 |
I
was trying to image Venus and the IR satellite showed no
clouds. But, this eerie sunrise with orange and purple ensued.
It sure looks volcanic to me. |
more
images (Oct. 24): S Mexico;
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